Point of View
by shakespeareansushi
Summary: "It's ugly," Luke mumbled, wrinkling his nose. "It's afraid," corrected Anakin. "Just like you are. And what's more, it's alive. It shares a connection with us through the Force. The fact that it's different from us, or that you think it's ugly, doesn't change that—nothing does. And sometimes, certain creatures can be more attuned to the Force than even we are."


Anakin was startled when he heard a sudden yelp come from a nearby thicket, promptly followed by mocking laughter. He broke off his conversation with Padmé to give a questioning glance toward the source of the sound, and almost immediately, Leia came running out of the grasses, an impish grin on her face.

"Leia, what was that?" Padmé questioned, arching one dignified eyebrow.

"Luke saw a bug and it scared him," Leia informed her mother amidst peals of laughter. She crawled over and sat in her lap. "It wasn't even that big, but you should've heard him scream!"

"Oh, we heard," Anakin remarked dryly, a faint smile forming on his lips. He caught Leia's eye, and she giggled.

"Ani," Padmé chided, giving him a cautionary glance. Anakin averted his gaze, but still smiled as his wife turned to Leia.

"Where is he now?" Padmé pressed, trying to quiet the the still-snickering child in her arms.

"Probably still in the grass, crying," Leia replied brazenly. She grinned as she reached over her mother's knee to grasp a piece of fruit from the picnic basket.

"Leia," Padmé scolded. Leia paid no mind.

Not a minute later, Luke emerged from the thicket with a dark look on his face. He wiped his nose irritably, dragging his feet in the grass. Plopping down on the picnic blanket, he picked up another piece of fruit—then, seeming to think better of eating it, flung it at his sister.

Leia shrieked just as Anakin shot out his hand, suspending the fruit in midair for a second before lowering it back into the basket.

"Luke!" Padmé cried in astonishment, placing her hand on Leia's shoulder.

"Well, she made fun of me!" Luke shouted, standing and pointing an accusatory finger. Though his voice was raised, his lower lip trembled. His anger, Anakin realized, betrayed both injury and fear.

"I did not!" Leia returned coolly, quick to defend herself. She seemed to be taking pleasure in the argument. "I just said what was true!"

"Well, it wasn't!"

"Yeah, it was!"

"Hey," Anakin cut in, hoping to placate the quarreling twins. "Enough is enough."

Upon their father's warning, the two children silenced themselves. However, Luke continued to daggers at Leia, who rewarded him with a noisy raspberry for all his efforts.

"Luke," Anakin said finally, getting up and extending his gloved hand. "Why don't you come with me?"

* * *

"She was being mean to me," Luke complained, as if his father hadn't already heard his grievances a hundred times. He looked down at the ground as he walked alongside Anakin. "She said I was afraid of bugs."

"Well, are you?" asked Anakin casually, turning to look at him.

"'Course not. I'm not afraid of anything!" Luke declared boastfully. To emphasize his claim, he kicked a rather tall tuft of grass—and a dark, striped, eight-legged creature scuttled out. Luke yipped and clung to Anakin's leg, instantly disproving his previous statement.

Anakin burst out laughing, ruffling his son's hair and grinning at him. "Right, little guy—absolutely fearless!" he remarked jovially. When Luke simply looked hurt by the statement, lacking any secondary emotion to mask his true feelings, Anakin quickly sobered.

"Look, buddy, there's nothing to be scared of," he assured Luke gently, kneeling down to his level and squeezing one of the boy's hands in his own. "Here—let me show you."

With his bare, organic hand, Anakin carefully reached out and scooped up the arachnid, causing Luke to recoil in disgust. But Anakin held onto Luke with his mechanical hand, grounding him and giving him the strength to stay where he was. Slowly, incrementally, Anakin brought the creature closer to their faces so that they could take a better look at it.

"It's ugly," Luke mumbled, wrinkling his nose, but not backing away.

"It's afraid," corrected Anakin, keeping his fingers very still. "Just like you are." Luke was silent. "That's why it's stopped moving."

"And what's more, it's alive," Anakin went on. "It shares a connection with us through the Force. The fact that it's different from us, or that you think it's ugly, doesn't change that-nothing does. And sometimes, certain creatures can be more attuned to the Force than even we are, because they lack the capacity for pride and selfishness. Obi-Wan—Uncle Ben—told me that, once."

A flicker of doubt crossed Luke's face, but he hardly so much as blinked as he stared at the arachnid.

"...Go on," Anakin prompted softly. "Touch it."

Luke looked at him as if Anakin had just instructed him to jump from a balcony. He grimaced and shook his head no.

"It's not going to hurt you, Luke. It's harmless," Anakin encouraged.

"Daddy, I can't." Luke shook his head harder. Panic seemed to be driving him toward the verge of tears.

"Are you sure?" Anakin asked patiently.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Luke choked out desperately. "I can't—I don't want to—I can't—I won't—!"

At the last second he changed his mind and thrust out his hand, shutting his eyes tight to brace himself. However, the action deemed itself unnecessary. The force with which Luke brought forward his hand startled the creature, and it scrambled down Anakin's arm. Within a matter of seconds it was lost in the grassy expanse, leaving Luke with his arm outstretched and his eyes closed tight.

"It's gone," Anakin informed his son, tapping him on the shoulder. Luke opened his eyes and looked around in astonishment. "You see? It was afraid of _you_ all along. When we forget to look at things from any other point of view but our own, we don't see the entire picture."

Luke relaxed, but there seemed to be something wistful in his eyes. He continued to search the grass with his gaze. "Did Uncle Ben teach you that, too?"

"That's right," Anakin affirmed with a smile. "Now. Do you want to go back to the picnic, or should we go looking for another meadow spider?"


End file.
